2 Algerians released from Guantanamo camp

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon announced yesterday that it has repatriated two long-held Algerians from the prison camp at Guantanamo - the first detainee transfer from the Navy base in nearly a year.

WASHINGTON —The Pentagon announced yesterday that it has repatriated two long-held Algerians from the prison camp at Guantanamo — the first detainee transfer from the Navy base in nearly a year.

The men, Nabil Hadjarab, 34, and Motai Sayab, 37, were among the first prisoners brought to Cuba soon after the Bush administration set up the detention center in 2002. An Obama administration official called the transfer, conducted in secret on Wednesday, a sign of the White House commitment to close the camp.

It was not known whether the men were released in their homeland on their return.

As of yesterday, the prison held 164 detainees, three of them convicted of war crimes and six others awaiting death-penalty trials.